


Everything Changes

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Because Unkar Plutt is a Dick, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben and his friends are eighteen, Light Angst, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Rey Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 16:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19794364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In which Ben Solo’s last year of high school comes up, and he has to deal with it — and his feelings for his friend Poe Dameron.





	Everything Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Call this a silly idea I got.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben celebrates his eighteenth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_Eighteen._

Something like that shouldn’t have felt like a giant nuke dumped into Ben’s backyard, but here he was, really. Even as he woke up, it hit him that he was eighteen years old. Eighteen. Old enough to vote, to have sex, to go to R-rated movies...

Old enough to go away to college. Where he’d likely never see his friends again. 

Finn. Rey. Poe. They shouldn’t have formed the strong bond that they did. The ragtag bunch of misfits that they were. But they did. Here they were. 

A ding from his phone. It was Poe. That shouldn’t have ordinarily sent butterflies in Ben’s stomach, but ever since he was fifteen and starting to see Poe as more than just a very funny, charming friend...

**Poe:** Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Benji, happy birthday to you...  
  
**Ben:** Thought I recognized your dulcet tones... 😉   
  
**Poe:** 😂 Yeah, I’m not exactly going to win any Grammys for my singing... 😂 

Ben smiled. Of course Poe was talking nonsense. After all, Poe had a beautiful voice.

**Ben:** You are so full of shit I can’t even. 😂 You have a great voice.   
  
**Poe:** Well, thanks. 😄 So, how’ve you been? How’s Kaydel?   
  
**Ben:** She’s Kaydel. As always. Although...she’s apparently dating Rose Tico from her college. It’s pretty good for her. Wouldn’t be a stretch if they got married and I became an Uncle. Fuck, I’m too young to be an Uncle Ben...   
  
**Poe:** Next thing you know your niece or nephew might get bitten by a radioactive spider and start fighting crime...   
  
**Ben:** Shut up, Poe. 😂 Fuck, I’ll miss you when I go away to college. I don’t wanna grow up... 😭   
  
**Poe:** Hey. Hey. Don’t cry on me, Ben. It’s your birthday. Tell you what — Finn, Rey and I’ll come over and we’ll do something fun.   
  
**Ben:** Sounds good to me. I just feel...old.   
  
**Poe:** You’re not old by a long shot. Tell you what...we’ll watch one of those R-rated movies in theaters. Call it a rite of passage.   
  
**Ben:** Sounds great from where I’m standing. 

Something about it just sounded right. Even negotiating the time, Ben couldn’t help but feel like he was going to miss Poe even more. Of course he would. And Finn and Rey, but with Poe, there was a feeling of something unfinished, something unsaid. If only he could say something. Anything, about his feelings...but what if he ruined their friendship?

Maybe it was best not to think about that. Maybe it was best to just enjoy his birthday.

***

Poe showed up in Black One, his car, hours later, with Finn and Rey practically crammed into the backseat. Poe grinned at him with that sort of grin that made Ben’s heart skip a beat.

“Get in, Ben,” he said. “We’re hitting the movies.”

Ben got in. He couldn’t say he was complaining at all. After all, he always had fun with the three of them. 

Even as they drove over to the theater, Poe turned to Rey and Finn and Ben. “How are you three doing?”

Rey sighed. “Good.” She didn’t sound good, though. The way she withdrew into herself...Ben had a feeling that Plutt, her asshole guardian, had been at it again. He never hit her, but words could leave marks nonetheless. 

Sometimes he wished he could kill Plutt. 

Finn reached over and squeezed her hand. Rey smiled wanly, before saying, “Honestly, I’m just glad to be out of here. I’ll just...I dunno, stay in a dorm in college.”

College. Ben didn’t want to think about it too much. 

“That’s a good idea, from where I’m standing,” Ben said. 

“Tell you what, Rey — when the time comes,” Poe said, “We’ll swoop in like the Avengers and save you.”

Rey laughed, delightedly. “I wanna fight too!”

”Of course,” Poe said. “You’re our Black Widow. You’d kick a lot of ass.”

Rey smiled. “Not a bad idea. I like Black Widow...”

It was as they pulled up to the theater that they got out and headed towards it. Today’s movie, the latest Fast and Furious. It wasn’t going to necessarily obey the laws of physics, from what Ben had heard, or anything like that...but sometimes you needed something that wasn’t going to obey the laws of physics. 

Sometimes you just needed something fun. 

Besides, Ben had never seen an R-rated movie before, so...this could be interesting. 

They paid for their tickets and snacks, before heading into the theater. Even sitting down and watching the different trailers (apparently an adaptation of Stephen King’s _Doctor Sleep_ was coming out. Interesting) Ben felt a familiar sort of camaraderie that he couldn’t say he felt with anyone else at school. 

It was...something, really. 

The movie started. And all the while, Ben looked at Rey, mostly to see if she was doing better, and then Poe, just to see him break into laughter. Poe was beautiful always, but this...

Well, it only made him more beautiful.

And sitting with his friends in the theater, Ben Solo could safely say that he was all right. 


End file.
